This month we'll change genres to a song about the life as a cattle farmer:
On Pasture Elsewhere
Olli Kulppi, Evonik – ELKO
Olli had another busy month learning hos to ride cobbles from one of the biggest legends of the game - and with some succes I might add.
He helped Boonen to a GC third in KBC in such a strong manner that he ended up winning the youth jersey himself.
With him the future of Finnish cobbles-riding looks bright.
From there Olli went to Philedelphia, where he showed the jersey in a breakaway to the satisfaction of his current manager.
In Romandie he was much more anonymous race, but he nevertheless did his part in helping Luis Leon Sánchez Gil get to the finales in good shape. In fact good enough to win the race overall.
Olli's Results
Race
Result
Team
C1
KBC De Panne Tour
GC
26th
3rd
KBC De Panne Tour
St. 1
30th
5th
KBC De Panne Tour
St. 2
37th
2nd
KBC De Panne Tour
St. 3
90th
5th
KBC De Panne Tour
St. 4
84th
24th
KBC De Panne Tour
U25
WIN
C1
Philadelphia International Championship
131st
3rd
HC
Tour of Romandie
GC
145th
WIN
Tour of Romandie
St. 1
129th
42nd
Tour of Romandie
St. 2
183rd
14th
Tour of Romandie
St. 3
34th
15th
Tour of Romandie
St. 4
140th
2nd
Tour of Romandie
St. 5
143rd
9th
Tour of Romandie
St. 6
168th
2nd
Philip Lindau, Swedbank – PEAB
Lindau only had one race this month: Tour de Romandie. His tasks were mainly early in the flat stages where he was a keg in the machine that got Reimer some good stage reults as well as the points jersey.
He also got the opportunity to talk a bit to Olli on some of the harder stages.
Philip's Results
Race
Result
Team
HC
Tour of Romandie
GC
128th
18th
Tour of Romandie
St. 1
83rd
43rd
Tour of Romandie
St. 2
189th
3rd
Tour of Romandie
St. 3
173rd
WIN
Tour of Romandie
St. 4
144th
5th
Tour of Romandie
St. 5
136th
6th
Tour of Romandie
St. 6
175th
17th
Tour of Romandie
Pts
WIN
Gökhan Hasta, Red Bull – Huawei
Gökhan certainly had the hardest month of all our loaned-out riders as he took part in the first GT of the season as part of a team with no GC hope leaving Gökhan in a free role on the mountain stages.
He failed to make the most of his opportunity even though he as among the teams best both in the big mountains and the long ITT. At least that gives some promise for the future and he will surely be much stronger just as a result of being among the only 134 finishers out of 195 starters.
Gökhan's Results
Race
Result
Team
GT
Giro d'Italia
GC
Giro d'Italia
St. 1
TTT
16th
Giro d'Italia
St. 2
142nd
16th
Giro d'Italia
St. 3
160th
6th
Giro d'Italia
St. 4
108th
3rd
Giro d'Italia
St. 5
158th
4th
Giro d'Italia
St. 6
148th
3rd
Giro d'Italia
St. 7
121st
45th
Giro d'Italia
St. 8
82nd
7th
Giro d'Italia
St. 9
179th
51st
Giro d'Italia
St. 10
174th
WIN
Giro d'Italia
St. 11
138th
4th
Giro d'Italia
St. 12
110th
69th
Giro d'Italia
St. 13
114th
85th
Giro d'Italia
St. 14
120th
8th
Giro d'Italia
St. 15
162nd
7th
Giro d'Italia
St. 16
81st
78th
Giro d'Italia
St. 17
118th
120th
Giro d'Italia
St. 18
113th
75th
Giro d'Italia
St. 19
89th
102nd
Giro d'Italia
St. 20
73rd
68th
Giro d'Italia
St. 21
122nd
5th
Bull of the Month
Every team needs riders that will step up when needed. This month one rider saved us from complete embarrasment and disaster so this month's Bull of the Month is:
We went to Germany with absolutely no ambitions or perhaps rather expectations.
We did bring our main sprinter, but Westlign has a tendency to only perform on select occasions and rarely if the course is as lumpy as this one…
We missed the early break, but in a hectic finale the boys suddenly woke up. No one expected anything from us so as the sprinter teamswere looking at each other to catche the last attacker our boys decided to sprint like never before.
Both Ignacio and Sergio somehow managed to squeeze into the top 10. None of us know how, but we'll take it with joy,
After having seen Renäng underperform here last year we come back with high hopes for especially Pökälä, though the TT-field of the division have grown stronger since then.
Viktor clearly doesn't cope well with riding in Namibia.
Samuel got a provisional 2nd place in goal. That would have been great had there not been so many strong TT'ers in top shape left on the course.
This was not what we had expecetd or wanted and both will have to do better in the coming time to redeem themselves.
The fact that we had a Top 5 goal here really doesn't make it any better.
We went to Sweden with the ambition of showing ourselves in our main sponsors home country.
With Jukka having a history as PCT-leader for his team in this kind of races we were optimistic going into the race.
Sadly he didn't quite find the legs nor did any of his helpers and since we missed the early break it turned out a somewhat quiet, but pleasent, day for the team.
As a race that will be decided on small hills we came in to teh race expecting great things from Jukka, who should be able to benefit from his strong acceleration and sprint compared to the other punchers.
The first stage was largely flat, but with a small incline in the finale. Rabon put in a really strong late attack, so we had a lot of guys pulling hard at the front to minimize his time gain on Jukka.
We didn't quite catch him but we got a great result with Risto and Ignacio taking 5th and 6th.
On Stage 2 we had an uphill finish and one of the stages expected to be of great importance for the GC. Once again the break was allowed to take the stage win while Jukka wasn't quite sharp enough in the end.
Stage 3 was the queen stage, and once again Jukka wasn't quite awake in the decisive moments losing important momentum and in the end seconds.
Finishing off with a flat stage we sent Aaltio in the break. A large one, but not one that was allowed to last.
In stead he tried again in the final sprint looking good for a while, but lacking the energy he used in the break.
As the other big names Jukka didn't perform GC-wise in this race despite it being perfect for him on paper. At least he just saved us a top 10 so that't something.
Sort of a weird race with some flat and light hilly stages all th way to the final few km where it's suddenly mountain time.
We had Chris Anker Sørensen as our leader and with his recent great form we also had reason to be hopeful.
Tiainen showed the champions jersey a bit on the first stage, though he just planly isn't strong enough to really compete against the strong sprinters.
Great to see the jersey nonetheless.
Stage 2 was very flat and short and this time it was Dahlbergs turn to give the sprint a shot. And not too bad a shot of that.
Stage 3 was the first stage with some impact on the GC due to some small hills. CAS made sure to stay near the front and avoid too much of a time loss.
Matti Manninen went in the early break on stage 5 but the focus was on CAS, who got us a good result on the final hill boding well for teh final queen stage.
Our hopes were fast put to shame when Chris went down in a nasty crash on a horrific wet 22% downhill sector. Pure madness placing roads like this on the route thus risking the health of the riders.
While lyalty is good it would have been even better to have seen some of the others going on the attack in stead of waiting for Chris all day.
When LeAnn Rimes was still quite young and not quite as aig a star today, she performed this little thing:
On Pasture Elsewhere
Paavo Paajanen, Vesuvio - Accumalux
Paavo stayed in France for 5 days in Dunkerque where he worked for Pit Schlechter. Not that much came from it though.
From there he went on to his 4th monument where he was a key helper for Gastauer and Schleck. Paavo finished as 4th best Vesuvio rider but the captains just didn't have the legs that day.
He took advantage of his good form to get in the break in Stade Appia Antica. Of course they didn't last all the way but I'm always happy when my loaned-out riders make themselves noticed anyway.
Paavo's Results
Race
Result
Team
HC
5 Jours de Dunkerque
GC
111th
28th
5 Jours de Dunkerque
St. 1
56th
22nd
5 Jours de Dunkerque
St. 2
146th
14th
5 Jours de Dunkerque
St. 3
126th
30th
5 Jours de Dunkerque
St. 4
134th
47th
5 Jours de Dunkerque
St. 5
135th
79th
MON
Liege - Bastogne - Liege
86th
24th
PT
Strada Appia Antica
119th
46th
Philip Lindau, Swedbank – PEAB
With both Ahlstrand and Hermans in the team for Dunkerque Lindau had plenty to work for. Sadly none of the two really delivered making it a disappointing resutl for Swedbank alltogether.
Lindau also had teh great honour of being selected for his and the teams home race.
Reimer got the team a nice podium while Philip struggled a bit more.
Philip's Results
Race
Result
Team
HC
5 Jours de Dunkerque
GC
172nd
44th
5 Jours de Dunkerque
St. 1
154th
38th
5 Jours de Dunkerque
St. 2
60th
16th
5 Jours de Dunkerque
St. 3
168th
40th
5 Jours de Dunkerque
St. 4
171st
15th
5 Jours de Dunkerque
St. 5
148th
27th
C1
Scandinavia Open Road Race
136th
3rd
Gökhan Hasta, Red Bull – Huawei
Gökhan rode all three Ardennes-classics in support of Skujins. Or at leat support was the plan.
Hasta struggled in all three races but should be encouraged by his leader taking three top 10's in a somewhat anonymous way.
Gökhan's Results
Race
Result
Team
PT
Amstel Gold Race
183rd
10th
PT
Fleche Wallone
168th
5th
MON
Liege- Bastogne - Liege
173rd
6th
Olli Kulppi, Evonik – ELKO
Olli started his month in Sweden where both him and the team apparently took a day off.
We saw him again in Taiwan, where he was supporting Mohoric. They didn't make any problems for us, which is fine by me on this occasion.
Olli's Results
Race
Result
Team
C1
Scandinavia Open Road Race
144th
43rd
C2
Tour de Taiwan
GC
83th
27th
Tour de Taiwan
St. 1
88th
34th
Tour de Taiwan
St. 2
97th
16th
Tour de Taiwan
St. 3
74th
36th
Tour de Taiwan
St. 4
148th
12th
Bull of the Month
In general our May was less than impressive. We did have one rider gatting a few surprisingly good stage results so this month's Bull is:
On the plus side we enjoy racing in Denmark. On the downside they've thrown cobbles all over the place…
Both Lehtinen and Westling tried to get in the break but failed, which ultimately was the closest thing we came to a highlight in this race.
In fact only Linus actually finished the race.
Have been some decent races for the team since the last update. Sørensen, sums up the team, blowing hot and cold. Great in Azerbaijan and nowhere in Scotland.
To keep this post cow related:
Atlantius wrote:
Cow of the month...
A good choice, but nothing on this shot I recently took though!
There are many reasons we were looking forward to racing in Iceland. The climate and Northern brotherhood for a start.
Also it's THE big season target for Pökälä with much to be decided on an ITT with enough hills to get rid of some riders but not enough to really select for only the top punchers.
Both Renäng and Pökälä put in a good effort at the opening ITT, though we had reamt of slightly more from both of them.
Sarabia went in the break the following day, while Westling attempted to contest the sprint looking even worse than usual when things really kicked off.
Stage 3 was the one that should seperate the worst punchers from the rest. We had Sørensen in the early break but the important bit was towards the end where Samuel showed the right spirit with soem attacking.
He was never going to win the stage, but did well to limit his losses. Would have ben nice to see Vastaranta trying out for the stage win though.
CAS went in the break again on the final stage only to get caught and then end up contesting the final flat sprint in great style.
The first couple of stages went without drama for us.
On stage 3 we saw Samoilev take thing into his own hands with CAS showing terrible form along the way.
Good thing Branislav hit one of the best days of his career somehow managing to beat Der in the sprint thus also taking the yellow jersey.
He held on to the lead until the mountain TT where Der did brilliantly to steal the jersey from our Belarussian.
He gave it a final shot and almost suceeded against all odds on the final stage.
A strong attempt is all we can demand and Branislav really showed the right kind of spirit in this race.
We really wanted to do well in our home race, though we would have loved if the organizers could have found a route that suited a bit more of our riders.
Hopefully next year they'll decide on a route suiting Vastaranta in stead…
Risto Aaltio made sure to have us represented in the early break so that all our local fans would get a local hero to cheer for throughout the day.
Sadly the big sprinter teams knew what they were doing and Weslting found a new low in his level making this an outright terrible race for us resultswise.
We figured a light hilly race in the neighbourhood would be nice even though the competition was hard.
The first stage went to the early break - sadly we missed getting in there onse again.
In fact it wasn't until the final 10-15 km of the race that anyone realized that we were even there. In short this was simply not good enough for us.
Results
Best Rider
Place
Time
Stage 1
Jukka Vastaranta
73rd
+ 3'49
Stage 2
Jukka Vastaranta
31st
s.t.
Stage 3
Jukka Vastaranta
65th
+ 1'47
Stage 4
Jukka Vastaranta
13th
s.t.
General Classification
1
Alessandro Proni
Akzonobel - Statoil
17h36'57
19
Jukka Vastaranta
DeLaval - Kiitokori
+ 2'16
107
Sergiu Cioban
DeLaval - Kiitokori
+ 15'44
122
Sakari Lehtinen
DeLaval - Kiitokori
+ 17'27
125
Mateusz Taciak
DeLaval - Kiitokori
+ 19'44
149
Sami Tiainen
DeLaval - Kiitokori
+ 26'13
165
Risto Aaltio
DeLaval - Kiitokori
+ 30'03
171
Mattias Westling
DeLaval - Kiitokori
+ 36'31
177
Matti Manninen
DeLaval - Kiitokori
+ 39'02
Monterrey TTT
We figured that having the Mexican ITT-champions jersey in our team would at least get us a bit of attention in this race while we should hopefully be able to challenge for a top 10.
This time we'll go all the way back to 1934 for another, more original, version of the Milk Cow Blues:
On Pasture Elsewhere
Paavo Paajanen, Vesuvio - Accumalux
Paavo had a pretty quiet month only racing Eneco tour where neither hom nor any of his teammates made themselves noticed.
Paavo's Results
Race
Result
Team
HC
Eneco Tour
GC
177th
51st
Eneco Tour
St. 1
179th
74th
Eneco Tour
St. 2
132nd
11th
Eneco Tour
St. 3
185th
31st
Eneco Tour
St. 4
184th
56th
Gökhan Hasta, Red Bull – Huawei
Gökhan was sent to Switzerland in support of Alarcon ultimately helping his leader to several good stage results and a 4th in the GC.
Gökhan's Results
Race
Result
Team
C1
Grozny Classic
DNF
5th
C1
Tour of Norway
GC
Geschke
Tour of Norway
St. 1
149th
90th
Tour of Norway
St. 2
178th
82nd
Tour of Norway
St. 3
162nd
133rd
Tour of Norway
St. 4
154th
44th
Olli Kulppi, Evonik – ELKO
Olli had a tough day in Grozny as did most of the other starters. Our young Finnish friend didn't finish the race but with Boonen taking 5th it was another solid day for the team.
Tour of Norway was as disappointing for Evonik as it was for us. Probably more since Geschke crashed completly out of the race and they didn't even get close to a result anywhere. At least Olli had a nice chat with some of our riders finishing alongside Sakari and Risto on the first stage.
Olli's Results
Race
Result
Team
C1
Grozny Classic
DNF
5th
C1
Tour of Norway
GC
Geschke
Tour of Norway
St. 1
149th
90th
Tour of Norway
St. 2
178th
82nd
Tour of Norway
St. 3
162nd
133rd
Tour of Norway
St. 4
154th
44th
Philip Lindau, Swedbank – PEAB
Philip did his work in the first half of Nelspruit Classic ultimately finishing safe inside the second big group.
After that he was sent to Andorra for what can only be described as a race where he had no chance to excel. In fact he should be content just having finished it inside the time limit.
Philip's Results
Race
Result
Team
HC
Nelspruit Classic
136th
9th
HC
Tour d´Andorra
GC
155th
16th
Tour d´Andorra
St. 1
145th
17th
Tour d´Andorra
St. 2
142nd
21st
Tour d´Andorra
St. 3
165th
32nd
Tour d´Andorra
St. 4
156th
9th
Tour d´Andorra
St. 5
165th
23rd
Bull of the Month
It hasn't been the most impressive month for us but one rider really stepped up and grabbed his chance:
Branislav Samoilev
Cow of the Month
To mark the highlight of our month here are some South African cows:
This race was designated a real highlight of our season as a race suiting Jukkas abilities perfectly.
Jukka showed great form on stage 2 after a perfect leadout from Linus, who finished 6th himself.
But then the following hilly stage he apparently couldn't be bothered despite the team doing some great work for him.
Sakari went in the early break on stage 4. Remains of the break lasted all the way to the where Jukka once again showed the right kind of form and spirit by almost managing to get past them on the line.
On stage 5 he decided to take the GC into his own hands attacking from 12 km out taking the other GC contenders by surprise.
The early break took the stage, but Jukka gained some important seconds
Stage 6 was an example of great teamwork as Ignacio went in the early break.
When Jukka attacked from the peloton he easily bridged to Sarabia, who then pulled hard to help expand the gap.
Vastaranta put in a great effort, but got caught on the line just missing out on the stage win, but gaining a lot of time jumping to 2nd place in the GC and taking the lead in the points classification.
The final day we made sure to stay out of trouble in a chaotic final, where Jukka got another fine stage result securing him the points jersey.
All in all we are very happy with our journey across the Baltic Sea.
Some alright GC places recently for the team, rankings still looking O.K, however, a bit worrying for you that teams above you keep seeming to score. Anacona has some races coming up though, that could set everything right!
Can't be too many more songs with cow in the title after all these posts! Maybe you will have to go with songs which refer to cows in the lyrics - Son House's My Black Mama comes to mind.
Once again Lehtinen tried getting in the break and once again he wasn't allowed. In the end Westling decided to once again not give the sprint an attempt despite being our designated lead sprinter.
The second stage was the most important for us as Winner was expected by most to be the strongest climber of the race and we had given him plenty of strong support.
At the start of the climb we started setting a pace hard enough to drop most just by the pace-setting alone.
The helpers did great even though Berard was out front, they kept him in a managable distance.
The problem only really began when it turned out that Winner had yet another bad day having plenty to do hanging on to the pace set by Chris, who on the other hand seems to have one of the best days in his career.
CAS did amazingly but should probably have made a stronger acceleration riding his own chance in stead of being such a good teammate.
At least he gets a fine 2nd place both today and in the GC with Winner on 4th and Colex doing very well as well.
Interesting that CAS decided to attack from his leader, but the great depth in both Hills and Mountains, should keep you in for promotion. Also you have one of the teams, which would be very interesting to see in PCT.
Right now I can say that your team is now within the Top 6, which this year is automatically gives promotion, so I guess with the hilly classics coming up you should be safe